Cat God
by Sakura Ando
Summary: Okay, this is a Fruits Basket fanfic because of the whole curse thing, but it's a different family. The cursed family is the Sakura family, pronounced like Sakura from Naruto. The main character is the cat, and it's about how she copes with everything.
1. Prolouge

"Sir!" A young woman cried, running into the family head's room. "Come quickly!"

The head of the family turned and stared at the woman. "What is it?" He asked, keeping both his voice and face emotionless. His young son looked around him and blinked at the woman. "You're interrupting an important lesson."

"My apologies." The woman said, giving a deep bow. "It's about my children."

A worried look crossed the family head's face. "Is it..." He trailed off, but the woman knew what he had been about to ask. She shook her head. The worried look vanished from the man's face instantly. "Then what is going on!" He demanded.

"It's the other one." The woman said quickly. "She's... _different_."

"What!" The head of the family shouted. He got to his feet and quickly crossed to where the woman was standing in the door. "Lead the way." He directed.

The woman bowed again and turned down the corridor. She led him through the house and into a courtyard. Another man, the woman's husband, was standing there with one of his baby daughters held tightly in his arms. He looked up as they entered the courtyard, and then looked back at the ground.

There, laying the grass, was a tiny baby kitten with calico fur. It looked up at all of them and blinked a few times. Then it opened its mouth and let out a cry that sounded identical to the cry that came from the little girl held tightly in her father's arms.


	2. Chapter 1

"Kari! Wait for me!"

I groaned as I looked over my shoulder to see my sister, Kami, running toward me. She was waving at me, and despite her frantic words, she had a huge smile on her face. When she reached me, she doubled over and was breathing very hard. "Good." She panted. "You waited."

I sighed heavily and put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" I asked, since it was the right thing to do. I couldn't help but think that it was her own fault for running so hard. Then I smiled. That was Kami, never letting her health get in the way of what she wanted to do.

"I'm fine." Kami assured me, standing up straight. She grabbed my hand and started pulling me in the direction of the school gates. "Let's go!" She laughed. "Or we'll going to be late."

This confused me. "Late for what?" It was a Friday afternoon, so I didn't have training today, and I knew that Kami didn't have any doctor's appointments until next month.

Kami laughed again. "Mom told me to go to the main house after school today. So I guess that would mean that only I'm going to be late. But still! We have to hurry!" She looked back at me with a sideways, nervous smile. "The main house scares me a little, so I really want you to come with me."

I stopped, and she wasn't strong enough to pull me any further. I looked at her with a sorrowful expression. "I can't go to the main house." I reminded her. "I'm not allowed in."

Kami scowled. "What shape is the head of the family's room?" She asked suddenly.

I blinked. "That's easy, everyone knows the story of when he demanded a circular room."

"And the colour?"

"Painted in a mural that depicts the banquet." I stated instantly.

Kami's eyes went wide. "Cool!" She exclaimed, giving a little hop. "I want my room to be painted like that too!"

I sighed at her childishness. "Do you have a point, or are you just asking random questions again?" Kami had been known to start asking random questions when she didn't want to continue a conversation. It drove people insane, since they always thought that, in some strange way, Kami was connecting the questions to the conversation.

"I have a point!" She cried. Then she paused and put her right index finger to her chin. "Uh..." She thought hard. Then a look of embarrassment crossed her face as well as a slight blush. "Could you remind me what we were talking about before I started asking questions?"

Most people would probably have groaned and just walked away, but Kami was my sister, and I had grown up with her strange memory. I just smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not allowed to enter the main house." I said slowly.

"Oh yeah!" Kami brightened. "And then I stared asking questions about the head of the family's room." She pounded her right fist into her left palm. "My point is, you know exactly how it's painted, because you've seen it." She grinned. "Which means that you where inside the main house."

I just shrugged. "I'm a rule breaker." I muttered. "I didn't like the restriction, so I broke in. It's not like there's any real security other than the walls surrounding everything."

Kami nodded along with everything I said. "So you'll just have to do that again." She stated. "When I go in through the front doors, pretend that you're just going to wait for me there. Then sneak around and come in through your secret entrance. You'll easily be able to find me." She grinned as she gave a slight tug on her nightshade black hair, do dark that it always reminded me of a clack hole, sucking in any light around it.

I nodded, forcing myself to accept the fact that I would have to do this. Then I blinked in surprise. "How did you know that I have a secret entrance?"

She shrugged. "I found a hole in the wall behind some bushes one time when I was walking past the house. It looked deliberately made, so I guessed that someone had made it to be able to get into the house." She looked at me pointedly.

I sighed and nodded. "Yeah, that's my secret entrance."

"Okay then!" Kami said, clapping her hands together. "Now let's get going." She grabbed my wrist again. "We're really going to be late now!" She cried as we started running.

"I'll just wait here for you." I called as one of the family head's servants started to lead Kami into the main house.

Kami looked back at me and nodded. "I don't think it will take too long."

The servant looked back at me with a look of disapproval. Then he pointedly turned his back on me and smiled at Kami. "We'd better hurry, Kami-sama." He said quickly.

As they walked away, I saw Kami's shoulders shaking slightly. I could tell that she was suppressing laughter. We both were, actually. Every time someone called Kami 'Kami-sama', we found it hilarious. The name meant 'god', and it was always entertaining to see someone in their fifties calling a sixteen year old 'god'.

_But it's true._ I thought, the laughter dieing inside me as the gate slammed shut in front of my face. _That's what she is._ I kicked a pebble as I slowly started walking toward my entrance.

Kami and I were part of the Sakura family, and we lived under the Sakura curse. Twelve others in our family lived under this curse as well, but Kami and I were still loners. The curse was that, whenever someone who was cursed is hugged by someone of the opposite gender (or they come under a lot of stress), they transform into their animal from the Chinese Zodiac.

But, of course, Kami and I are different. We aren't from the Zodiac. The curse is based off of a legend explaining why there is no year of the cat. In the legend, there are two other characters, besides the twelve Zodiac members. There's the cat, and there's God.

And that's who we are. Kami and Kari Sakura, the twins who are stuck to each other like glue, but who shouldn't even be socializing with each other.

Kami is God.

And I'm the cat. I'm the one left out of the banquet, the one not allowed near the site of the banquet (every new year the family gets together and holds a banquet, just like the one in the legend). As Kami once put it, I'm 'the odd-ball with a hair-ball'.

A sad smile crossed my face as I reached the bushes that hid my entrance. _In what world could God and the cat be best friends? _I asked myself. _It would never happen._


	3. Chapter 2

"Get out of the way!"

I looked up in time to see a boy on a skateboard flying down the street toward me. I plastered myself against the wall surrounding the main house and tried to make myself flat against it. When the skateboarding kid flew past me, I exhaled and relaxed my tense muscles.

"I'm sorry." I turned and saw that the boy had managed to stop and was now looking at me. He picked up his skateboard and started walking toward me. He had a huge grin on his face that reminded me of Kami's. "I'm still trying to get used to stopping on this thing." He nodded to the skateboard. "That's why I'm practising here. Usually, nobody comes along this road."

I looked at him with an emotionless stare. "That's because this entire block is a private estate." I informed him.

"Oh, I know that." He said, nodding quickly. Then he looked up at the wall. "It's the old, abandoned Sakura house." He looked back at me and grinned. "My friends say that it's haunted, by the ghosts of the people who never really got a chance to call this place their home."

I blinked at him in surprise a few times. "Abandoned? Why would anyone think that it was abandoned?" It seemed like an absurd thing, since nearly fifty people lived there. It was just a little community cut off from the rest of the world, very far from being abandoned.

The boy looked around, as if making sure that nobody else could hear us. Then he leaned in and whispered. "I've heard that, every night, thousands of rats come from all over the city to feast on the overgrown gardens, and any birds that have flown over the house and died."

I felt my ears twitch, a strange thing that sometimes happened to me since I was the cat. "Rats?" I repeated. I suppressed a laugh. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I guess to anyone who didn't know, it would look like the place was abandoned. But the truth was that the head of the family was also part of the curse. He was the rat, and every night he would call other rats to come and keep him company.

The boy nodded. Then his face brightened. "I've got an idea!" He cried. "Some friends and I are going to stake this place out tonight. You know, see if we can confirm that the stories are true. Why don't you come too?" He gave me a lopsided grin. "You're the only girl I've met who isn't disgusted by the thought of thousands of rats."

I stared at him in surprise. I had never done anything with anyone other than Kami. Because of the curse, I had been really cautious about making friends. If I became friends with boys there was always the chance of getting too close to them and transforming.

But someone had just invited me to spend time with a group of people. It was something completely new to me, and a part of me really wanted to say yes. The word was on the tip of my tongue, but I just couldn't say it. If I was the only girl who wasn't disgusted by rats, that meant that the group of his friends was a group of boys. I couldn't think of a more dangerous situation.

He was still waiting for a response. I swallowed hard and managed a kind smile. "That sounds like fun." I told him. Then I looked away slightly. "But I don't know if I can."

"That's okay." He sounded a little disappointed. "Hey, if you can come, we're all going to be meeting right here at about 10. Feel free to just show up." He set his skateboard down and I knew that the conversation was over. Then he held out a hand. "I'm Tohru, by the way. Tohru Kimura."

I shook his hand and smiled widely. "Kari." I didn't want to tell him my last name, since that would probably destroy the invitation. I just smiled and waved as he got on his skateboard and started off down the street.

I watched as he moved away from me. I felt almost sad when I couldn't see him anymore. It was a strange feeling and I was angry at myself for feeling it. He was just a normal person, so it wasn't like he was someone I could talk openly with. That alone meant that we couldn't be friends.

I sighed heavily and turned back to the bushes. I crouched down in front of them, glanced both ways, and parted them. The hole in the wall was still there, and I could see the bushes that grew on the other side as well. I smiled and pushed my way through the opening and into those bushes. The ones on the outside of the wall bounced back into place and I was completely hidden.

I liked it there, just crouching in the bushes. It was actually very comfortable. I breathed in deeply and enjoyed the smell of the flower gardens nearby. I didn't want to leave the safety of the bushes, but I knew that just sitting here was worthless.

I slowly parted the bushes and looked around. Nobody was in the garden, and I couldn't see anyone at the windows of the nearby houses. I silently crawled out and stood up. I shook my head to get some straggling leaves out of my hair, and then I turned in the direction of the family head's house.

I ran swiftly and silently through the trees that grew between the houses along the way. Usually I would have climbed one of the trees and jumped from branch to branch to get around, but today I stuck to the ground. This was the first time I had come in my school uniform, and I just didn't feel comfortable with the idea of jumping around in a skirt. Even though I knew that nobody was around, I couldn't shake the idea of someone walking by underneath the trees and looking up at me. Just the idea make my face grow hot.

I reached the family head's house and stood against the wall. There wasn't much cover, and my ears were pricked for the sound of anyone coming toward the house. I slowly turned my head so that I could peer in though the circular window.

The head of the family was seated to the right of the window, and I could see him the best. Then I saw that Kami and our mom were seated to the left of the window. Both of them where crouched with their heads bowed.

I turned away and stared ahead of me, not wanting to risk any of them glancing over and seeing me. The window was just a hole in the wall of the building, and I could hear what they were saying perfectly. I listened intently to the conversation.

"-sixteen now, right?" I heard the end of one of the family head's sentences.

"Yes, sir." Mom responded.

"Have you spoken to her yet about what we are here to discuss?"

"No."

I heard the family head exhale thoughtfully. "Kami?" He addressed my sister. "Do you know how special you are to this family?"

I felt my hands clench into fists. Inside the room, I knew that Kami's were doing the same. All our lives, every time we met someone from the family who knew about the curse, they had always commented like that. Nobody could ever wait to tell Kami just how special she was.

"Yes, sir." Kami muttered. I could tell that she was forcing her voice to remain calm.

"We all want the best for your future." The family head continued.

Kami remained silent.

"That's why you are here." He continued. "We must discuss how we plan to guarantee that future."

"How is that, sir?" Kami asked. I could tell from her voice that she was genuinely curious.

"Through marriage." Came his response. "Arrangements are being made for you and I to marry after you graduate high school."


	4. Chapter 3

_Marriage?_ I screamed in my head as I stared blankly across my bedroom. _A marriage between the head of the family and Kami?_ It was impossible for me to comprehend.

After I had heard him explain that to Kami, my mind had gone blank. I had mechanically moved through the trees of the main house again. I had silently gotten back to the bushes, left the house, and started home.

The house had been empty when I got home, and I had gone straight to my room. I knew that dad must have also been at the main house for the announcement, and that made me feel very left out. Even though I had spent countless nights alone in my room before, I had never felt as alone as I did now.

_When were they planning on telling me?_ I wondered. I started to imagine them coming home late tonight, all with smiling faces. They would tell me the news, that my sister was going to be the wife of the head of the family.

"_Of course,"_ Dad would probably point out, _"You won't be able to go to the wedding, since it will be held at the main house." _Despite those words, none of their smiles would waver. Mom and dad would be so proud of their little Kami that they wouldn't have room in their minds to feel bad for me.

Even Kami wouldn't feel bad for me. She'd be too busy getting excited every time she thought about the head of the family. She'd be making arrangements, like picking a dress design and drawing pictures of what she wanted her cake to look like. She wouldn't bother with school anymore, since she wouldn't even need good grades for the future.

I gritted my teeth. I couldn't stand the thought of being ignored by everyone again. Nobody in the extended family payed any notice to me, but I had always taken comfort in the thought that I would always have Kami to talk to.

I shook my head and looked over at the clock on my dresser. It was past nine already, and they were still out. _They're probably having a feast at the main house. _I scowled at the thought. They were leaving me to figure out dinner for myself.

_I won't just sit back while they celebrate!_ I screamed in my head. I stood up and started walking around. _There must be something fun I can do._ I thought. Then I got an idea. _I'll sneak in again and wait for the head of the family to return to his room. I'll congratulate him myself._

I shook my head. In my enraged state, I couldn't think of anything to do.

Then I remembered Tohru.

A group of kids staking out the main house. I had originally planned to tell Kami about it and have a good laugh with her. Now I thought that it might be a bit of fun to join them. I still had time to get there before ten.

"Okay." I turned to where I had dropped my coat the last time I had been out after dark. Grabbing it, I ran out of the room and toward the front door.

A I ran thought the abandoned streets toward the main house, I wondered if this was really okay. Tohru had invited me, but I wondered if he had meant it. I had only just met him, and he might have just been being nice.

A slight smile spread across my face. _He probably thinks that a girl from Jarenna High would never be out at night, let alone out with a group of guys._ Well, if that was the case, he was in for a surprise.

I turned the corner and saw a group of kids standing by the wall of the main house. I realized that they were only a few feet away from the bushes that hid my secret entrance. I hoped that none of them would stumble across it.

One of the kids looked up at the sound of my footsteps. I recognized him as Tohru when a smile spread across his face. "Kari!" He called, waving.

"Hi." I said, smiling as well. I stopped in front of him and looked nervously around.

There were about ten other boys there, and they were all staring at me. One of them stepped up to Tohru's side and looked at him with a confused expression. "What's a girl doing here, Tohru?" He asked, flashing me an angry look.

"I invited her." Tohru said simply. He stepped to my side and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Everyone, this is Kari. She's here to see the rats with us."

The group of boys started whispering back and forth. None of them seemed to believe that I was really there for the rats. I heard a few things like "A dare from friends", "Testing bravery", and "An excuse to get close to a guy she likes".

The smile on my face hardened into a glare as I shook Tohru's hand from my shoulder. I met a few of their gazes and held them until they looked away. "For your information, I love rats." I lied. It wasn't that I hated them, I just never thought about them as anything other than rodents. "I'm here to see if the rumours are true."

"Yeah, sure." One of the boys said, rolling his eyes.

"Guys, be quiet." A boy from the back of the crowd hissed. He was looking around nervously. "They're going to hear you."

"Nobody's going to hear us." The other boy said back. "The house is abandoned, remember?"

"What about the police?"

"There's nothing suspicious about a group of kids meeting on a quiet street."

"Hey!" We all turned when we heard someone shouting. I couldn't see who had yelled, but they sounded like they were close. I tensed involuntarily and stared into the night.

"Let's get out of here." The quiet boy hissed at the crowd. They listened when footsteps started to come toward us. Only I didn't move.

"Kari!" I felt Tohru grab my arm. "Let's go!"

Then footsteps started to come from the other direction as well. We both looked in each direction. When I looked at Tohru, I could see that he didn't know what to do. It was clear that he knew we would be in trouble if we were caught hanging around the Sakura estate.

"What do we do?" He hissed.


	5. Chapter 4

"This way." I hissed at Tohru. I started pulling him toward the bushes. I quickly parted them with my foot to reveal the hole in the wall. Then I pushed him toward it. "Go!" I directed, looking around to make sure that the people coming toward us couldn't yet see what we were doing.

He didn't argue. He dropped to the ground and swiftly crawled thought the hole and into the bushes on the other side. Then I followed, letting the bushes bounce into place behind me. In the dark, I crawled thought the hole and the bushes blindly, relying on memory to find the spot that I usually came out.

"Kari?" I heard Tohru call in a hushed voice to my right. I could tell that he was a little scared.

"I'm right here." I hissed back. "Stay where you are, I'm coming." I turned and headed in the direction that his voice had come from. I found him crouched just beyond the bushes, behind a tree. The light from the moon came down through the leaves and I could see him completely. He looked more surprised than scared.

When I came out of the bushes he looked at me. He had a look of aw plastered over his face. "How did you know that that hole was there?" He asked.

"Shh." I hissed, holding a finger to my lips. I sat there and listened carefully. I could faintly hear the footsteps on the other side of the wall. I heard both sets meet, and a few words where exchanged. They seemed to confirm with each other that nothing was there, and then they walked away. I sighed and slowly stood up.

Tohru got up too and looked at me. "How did you know?" He repeated.

I sighed heavily. I was regretting bringing him through the wall. _What was I thinking?_ I yelled at myself. I hardly knew this kid, and yet I had showed him something that only Kami and I knew about. _What if he tells someone?_ If someone who lived in the main house found out that the cat had been sneaking into the house, there would be an uproar, and my whole family would be disgraced.

_Like I care anymore._ I thought, remembering that Kami was getting engaged and I was going to be left behind in the celebrations.

"Kari?"

I looked up and gave Tohru a shy smile. "Well, uh, you see..." I didn't know what I was saying. "About that hole in the wall, please don't tell anyone." I put a hint of begging into my voice. "It's kind of a secret that I'm trying to keep."

He just stared at me. "Do you come though it a lot?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Not really." And it was true. When I had first created it, I had come almost every day to look at the gardens, but that had been a while ago. Now I only used it if there was something going on at the main house that I wanted to know about.

"Is that why you were here earlier?" Tohru asked.

I nodded slowly. "There was something happening here today that I wanted to know about."

"Why?" Tohru tilted his head to the side slightly. "What could possibly be happening at an abandoned estate?"

"It's not abandoned." I blurted without thinking. I looked away, embarrassed. "Actually, quite a lot of people live here."

"Who?" He asked. Then he laughed a little, making me look back at him. "That's a stupid question. It's the old Sakura estate. If someone lives here, of course it's the Sakura family." Then he stopped laughing and looked up at the tree that we were standing under. "I always thought that the Sakura family had left the area long ago. To think that there are still some of them living in this town. I wonder who they are."

"I know who." I muttered. He quickly looked at me in surprise. I gave him a half smile and clasped my hands tightly behind my back. "I could probably give you each one of the names of Sakuras that live in this town, and even some for the people not from the family who live in this estate."

He smiled back. "Okay then." He sounded like he didn't believe me. "Let's hear some of them."

I took a deep breath and started. "Kaito Sakura." He was my mother's younger brother, and also the person cursed by the spirit of the monkey. "Shion Sakura." She was the daughter of my mother's cousin, and wasn't cursed at all. "Nana Sakura." Kaito's daughter, cursed by the spirit of the rabbit. "Akane Sakura." A distant relative, cursed by the rooster. "Hikaru Sakura." Nana's older brother, cursed by the spirit of the dog. "Mori Sakura." Shion's brother, cursed by the ram.

I took another deep breath and forced myself to say one more name. "And Kari Sakura."

Tohru just nodded. "That is a lot of people. I'm surprised that I didn't know about any of them." He laughed slightly. Then he stopped and stared at me, blinking a few times. "Wait..." He raised a shaking hand and pointed at me. "You?"

I nodded, suppressing a laugh at the thought that it had taken him so long to realize. I once again thought that he and Kami were very similar. Then all laughter died inside of me at the thought of Kami. I hoped that sometime in the future I would be able to salvage our relationship.

"So then..." Tohru was saying, looking around us. "This is your house?" He suddenly looked very embarrassed, probably at the thought of asking me to stake out my own house.

I laughed and shook my head. "No." I assured him, glad to see the embarrassed look leave his face. "This is the main house. I live with my family in a smaller house a few blocks away." I nodded toward the bushes, and to where the hole in the wall sat. "If this was my house, why would I need a secret entrance?"

Tohru smiled. "I don't know, a secret way out to meet with friends?" Then he looked at me funny. "But why do you need a secret entrance. Even if you don't live here, part of your family does. Wouldn't they just let you in?"

I looked away. "It's a long story." I said. I hoped that he would take the hint in my voice and drop the subject.

He didn't need to though. Just then the flowers in the garden rustled and someone came around the tree. I stared as Tohru turned to look at who had come.

"Kari?" Kami said in surprise.


	6. Chapter 5

Kami ran at me and gave me a hug. "I thought you hadn't come in." She said, sounding very relived. "When I came out to look for you earlier, I couldn't find you anywhere." The tone of her voice made me feel really bad for having thought that she would ignore me.

"Sorry." I muttered, hugging her back. "I left before you had finished meeting with the family's head." My voice caught in my throat before I could tell her why I had left. I didn't want her to know how I felt about her engagement.

Kami released me and stepped back. She was grinning. "It's a good thing you did. That meeting took _forever_. I can't believe how hard it is to explain to someone that I want to earn my living by myself and not rely on a family fortune."

"What?" I breathed.

"Yeah." Kami looked like just remembering it made her exasperated. "They wanted me to marry Ren, so that I could have an easy, guaranteed future. How boring does that sound?" She shook her head. "I would much rather move to a far away country and open a small shop with someone I truly love."

I nodded, feeling even worse about the thought I had had when I found out about the engagement. I should have known that Kami would never have gone for it. She had always been the type to get into cheesy romance novels and dream about living one.

I heard someone clearing their throat and looked past Kami to see Tohru looking at me. I had actually forgotten that he was there, even though it was because of him that I was there. He looked nervously between me and Kami. I could see that he was unsure of what to do.

Kami had heard him and had turned to look at him. She glanced sideways at me and raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?" She hissed. It sounded completely out of character for her to ask such a thing. I suddenly had this strange idea that we had switched personalities, since she was the kind of person who would bring a friend somewhere she shouldn't.

I waved a hand at Tohru. "This is Tohru Kimura." I told Kami. "He's a friend of mine." I turned to Tohru, trying to act as if this was perfectly normal, as if we were in a park of somewhere we were completely allowed to be. "Tohru, this is my sister, Kami Sakura."

I was relieved when Kami played along and shook Tohru's hand. "It's nice to meet you." Then she took it a step too far by adding "Kari won't shut up about you."

Tohru and I laughed nervously, while Kami looked confused. "Kami," I started to explain to her why we were laughing. "I haven't seen you since I met Tohru." I looked back at him. "He's actually the reason I came back here after I left earlier."

"Really?" Kami looked at me with her head tilted to one side. "Why?"

"Long story."

"Kari seems to have a lot of those." Tohru commented. He smiled at Kami, and she smiled back. It looked like they were going to become great friends very quickly. The thought made my heart hurt a little. I knew that Kami would be able to have more fun with Tohru than I would, since she wouldn't have to worry about transforming in front of him.

"Well," Kami said, still smiling. "I think this story is kind of important." She turned to me. "Kari?"

"Well, uh, you see…" I started. "We were kind of standing around outside of the wall, and then these people started yelling at us." I looked away. "Everyone else ran away, but then the way they left was blocked, so we came through the hole in the wall."

Kami nodded. "So you showed him a secret entrance to the main house so that he wouldn't be caught by the guards?" I nodded.

"There are guards?" Tohru cried out.

"Yes." We all turned in surprise when we heard a new voice. My eyes grew wide when I saw Ren walking toward us. "I had them patrolling so that we could keep a certain _pest_ out." He looked right at me when he said that.

I struggled to keep my cool. "It's funny." I said, managing to keep my voice calm. "Most people would see you as the pest." I smirked. For the first conversation between me and Ren, this was kind of fun.

Kami gasped and looked at me. "Kari, even I have enough sense not to talk to the head of the family like that!" She cried.

"What does it matter?" I responded, still looking at Ren. "He already sees me as scum, so I'm just returning the favour." Now that I thought about it, having the head of the family detest me was kind of freeing. Unlike everyone else in the family, I didn't have to spend every moment of my life trying to please him, since I knew that that would be a lost cause.

Ren managed to keep his cool as well. He turned his attention to Kami. "Kami, are you the one who let them in?" He sounded disappointed.

I knew how important it was for Kami to stay on Ren's good side. I gritted my teeth and stepped forward. "No." I stated. "She was trying to get us to leave." I looked at Kami to let her know that everything was going to be okay.

Tohru's voice came from behind us. "I'm sorry we came in illegally." He said to Ren. "Kari and I just panicked and needed to hide." He slung an arm around my shoulders as he came up beside me, leaning against me.

"No!" Kami and I cried at the same time, right before I was engulfed in pink smoke and felt my body changing.


	7. Chapter 6

"Now you've done it." Shion hissed as she threw my bundled up clothes at me through the open doorway. "What were you thinking? First, you brought a stranger onto the grounds, and then you were stupid enough to let your guard down and let him hug you!" She ranted at me.

I scowled and started pulling on my clothes. I was in Shion's room, where I had been rudely dumped after Tohru had caused me to transform. I didn't know what had happened to Tohru after that, but Kami had said that she would stick by his side, so I wasn't really that worried about him.

"You really are lucky your sister is god." Shion was saying. "I'm not cursed, but Mori told me that she's really important to all of them. I swear, if it wasn't for her, you probably would have been locked up in that secluded room long ago."

Her words didn't even faze me. I knew exactly what she was talking about, as would anyone else who knew about the curse. It was part of being cursed by the cat. Once I graduated from high school, I would be locked up in a dark room at a far corner of the main house grounds. It was something I had been preparing for my entire life, and it was why I had mentally trained myself to entertain myself with nothing around me.

"Well, I guess you wouldn't have heard yet, would you?" Shion said, a hint of contempt in her voice. "Your sister won't be able to protect you from the room after high school, since she'll be Ren's property, and will have to do everything he says."

My ears pricked and I turned to look at her. "What do you mean?" I knew that she was talking about the arranged marriage, but I didn't know what she meant about Kami protecting me. It was part of the curse that I had until the end of high school to be free, not because Kami was there for me. Did Shion think that it was Kami keeping me out now?

She shrugged and turned away from me. "Everyone knows what she was planning. Why do you think Ren would want to marry someone as stupid as her? It's so that nobody will stand in his way of locking you up."

My hands formed fists at my sides. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to focus on getting dressed. "Kami knows the law as well as I do. She knows that that room is part of my destiny." I slipped my shirt over my head and pulled my multi-coloured hair out of the neck hole. "We're both prepared for the future that has been planned."

A sudden laugh from Shion made me turn around and face her. "Is that what you really think!" She shook her head at me. "And here I was thinking she was the stupid one." She stopped laughing and looked right at me. "Everyone knows that she was planning to use her authority as god to keep you free."

I blinked in surprise. "What?" I knew that she had cried for hours when we found out what would happen to me, but it was still hard to believe. I always thought that she had wanted to spend all our time together since we wouldn't be able to after we grew up.

Shion shrugged. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway." She walked toward the door and opened it. "Once she marries Ren, she won't be able to do anything." She motioned between me and the door. "Now get out of here."

I silently let Shion push me out of the house and toward the gate in the wall surrounding the main house. She turned back after a while, before we reached the gate. I kept walking until I was sure that she wouldn't be able to see me anymore. Then I jumped into the nearest tree and doubled back toward Ren's house.

"Stop!"

I froze and looked down. I hadn't even heard footsteps nearby. I saw a group of Ren's servants standing bellow the tree. But none of them were looking up at me, which means that they hadn't been talking to me. I began to relax.

Then I stiffened when I saw that they were all working together to carry something. I recognized the something as Tohru. He was unconscious and they were carrying him off toward the gate.

"Put him down!" The voice came again and this time I recognized it as Kami's. She came running through the trees toward them. She stopped and I saw that she had a very serious expression plastered across her face. "As Ren's fiancee, and the person cursed by the spirit of god, I order you to put him down and leave him alone!"

It was the first time I had ever heard her so serious, and also the first time she had used being god to get what she wanted. I watched in amazement as the servants looked at each other and then slowly lowered Tohru to the ground. With Kami still glaring at them, they turned and started to return to Ren's house.

The angry look dropped from Kami's face and she ran to Tohru's side. "Tohru?" She started shaking him. "Tohru?" She started to panic when he didn't stir.

I dropped down from the tree beside her, making her jump. "What happened?" I asked.

She looked between me and Tohru, finally letting her gaze rest on him. "Ren got Yuu to erase his memory." She said. Yuu was one of our relatives, who was cursed by the dragon. I didn't know much about him, having never actually met him, but I did know that he had a strange ability to manipulate people's memories.

I dropped to my knees beside Tohru. I could feel tears in my eyes. "This is why I never wanted any friends." I muttered as they flowed down my cheeks. "I knew that, if I let other people get close to me, they would find out and this would happen."

Kami put a hand on my shoulder. "Kari." She said gently. She stood up and started to lift Tohru. She was surprisingly strong, and was able to lift him onto her back. "Come on, we have to get him out of here. We'll take him to the hospital and say that we found him unconscious in the street."

I wiped my eyes and stood up. I turned to Kami, but didn't try to help her carry Tohru. "You go ahead." I told her. Then I turned toward Ren's house. "There's something I have to do first."


	8. Chapter 7

I ran quickly through the trees. I didn't bother to move through the branches, and instead ran on the ground. I was determined, and didn't care to try to hide. I knew that, in my state of mind, I would be able to fight off anyone who came at me. Even if a male attacked me and made me transform, I would run on as a cat.

I reached the door of Ren's house and kicked in the door. Surprised faces turned to stare at me, but I just ran past them. I let my instincts tell me where to go, since I didn't know the layout of the house.

"Hey!" Someone yelled behind me. "Kari! Stop right there!" I recognized Hikaru's voice.

I glanced over my shoulder briefly and saw him poking his head out of one of the rooms that I had passed. I flashed him a mischievous smile. "The dog is supposed to chase the cat!" I shouted back. Then I turned back to look where I was going.

"Kari!" He yelled again. This time I heard him running after me. He was slightly faster than me and I knew that he would quickly catch up. Thinking fast, I suddenly plastered myself against the wall. He ran past me and I kicked him forward.

He stumbled down the hall and crashed through a sliding door. Looking past him, I saw that I had kicked him into Ren's room. I recognized the mural of the banquet, but it was from a direction that I had never seen before. Instead of the view of the rat seated with the ox and boar, I was looking at a picture of a young girl.

With a start I realized that the girl looked just like Kami. I guessed that she must have been god, seated at the opposite end of the table from the rat. The spot beside god was taken up by the widow, but after that the animals started circling the room again. I realized that they were all looking at god.

Ren was sitting in the middle of the room. He stood up when Hikaru crashed though the door and turned to look at the disturbance. He looked past Hikaru and right at me. Anger showed on his face. "Get out." He said harshly. "You know you aren't allowed to be here."

I didn't move. "I have a score to settle with you, Damn Rat."

Ren also didn't move. "And what score is that, Stupid Cat." He spoke with a suddenly calm voice.

I gritted my teeth and took a step toward him. Then I started to run again. "You'll pay for what you did to Tohru!" I cried, jumping over Hikaru and landing just in front of Ren. I threw a punch at his face, but he easily stepped aside from it.

"And what did I do, exactly?" He asked, still very calm. "It was Yuu who erased the boy's memory."

"Under your orders!" I screamed, once again attacking. This time I swung a kick at him. He dodged again and I stumbled forward, toward the window. I stopped and turned around, breathing hard with anger.

Ren turned to face me, a slight smile on his face. "It was for the good of-"

He suddenly stopped, and the smile fell from his face. He looked at me with wide eyes and his mouth hung open stupidly.

I took this opportunity to strike again. I stepped forward and swung a fist at his face again. This time I hit my target. My fist collided with his cheek and sent him stumbling to the side. "Don't you dare say it was for the good of the family!" I shouted. "He wouldn't have told anyone about the curse if we had just explained things to him!"

Ren didn't respond. He was still staring at me stupidly. He had one hand against his cheek, which I could see was turning red where I had hit him. With his other hand, he shakily pointed at me. "The... The table..." He muttered.

The commotion had drawn the attention of everyone in the house. A large crowd of people gathered in the doorway to the room. As Hikaru shakily got to his feet and picked his way out of the wreckage of the door, Ren was able to finish his sentence.

"The table is full." He breathed.

Everyone standing in the doorway followed where he was pointing. As a group they gasped. Angrily, I looked behind me, but didn't see anything. I turned back to Ren and raised a fist. Then I saw the rat above his head and it all made sense to me.

I was standing in front of the window, and to them it looked like I had joined the banquet. I laughed at the thought. _The cat joined the banquet!_ I mused. Then I stopped laughing, and I felt tears in my eyes.

_The cat joined the banquet._ I thought again. _At last._


	9. Chapter 8

It turned out that Yuu wasn't as skilled as he thought. Or maybe it was that he didn't know how far back to clear Tohru's memory. It didn't really matter.

Either way, when school ended around noon the following day, Tohru was waiting for us at the school gates. He was dressed in street clothes, and I guessed that he hadn't gone to school that day. I guessed that waking up in the hospital had made him think twice about going on a half day.

"Hey." He greeted Kami and I as we walked through the gates. He had his skateboard with him and he waved it slightly at us, instead of just waving his hand. "So, what exactly happened? How'd I end up in the hospital?"

The three of us started walking together down the street in the direction of Kami and my house. I analyzed his tone of voice and came to the concision that he wasn't blaming us. He just wanted to know what had happened.

Kami answered him. "What's the last thing you remember?" She asked hesitantly.

Tohru thought for a moment. "I guess it was..." He blinked in surprise and looked at me. "Kari being engulfed in smoke and turning into a little calico cat." He laughed. "I know that sounds crazy, but don't you dare tell me it was a dream. It was way too real to be a dream."

Kami and I exchanged a look. I could tell that we were both partially relieved that he could still remember. I looked at Tohru. "No, we know that you weren't dreaming." I gave him a slight half smile, not really sure what else to say.

His eyes grew wide. "You really did turn into a cat!" He cried.

Kami slapped a hand over his mouth and we both shushed him. I looked around, but didn't see anyone. I sighed and motioned for Kami to remove her hand. "Yes, I did." I whispered to him. "Please don't make a big deal out of it."

"But..." Tohru started. Kami looked at him with a pleading look, and he sighed. "Okay, I guess I can pretend that it's perfectly normal for a person to transform into an animal."

This made Kami laugh. "Trust me." She said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "If you knew more about our family, it would seem perfectly normal." She grinned widely at him. "Animals and the Sakura family, we go way back."

Tohru blinked at her a few times. "Do you..." He pointed with a shaking finger.

She laughed and shook her head. "No, I don't transform like Kari. See?" She gave him a tight hug, making him stiffen. Then she stepped back and smiled brightly. She gave a little giggle that made me think that she had wanted to hug him tightly for a while now.

He stiffly looked between us. "But, I still don't understand how any of this is possible." His eyes focused on me. "Transforming into a cat isn't normal, not that everything has to be normal, but a hint of normality is always good."

We both laughed again. "We'll explain everything." Kami offered. "Just not here where anyone can hear us. Come on." She started leading the way home.

The doorbell rang just after I had sat down with a tray of snacks for the three of us. Since Kami was in the middle of explaining our family's curse to Tohru, I got up to get the door. Mom and dad weren't home yet, so I ran though everything they had taught me to say when a stranger came to the house.

But when I answered the door, all of that flew from my mind.

Standing on the other side, staring expressionlessly at me, was Ren. "Good afternoon." He greeted.

I suddenly thought of Tohru. If Ren found out that Yuu's memory wipe hadn't worked, what would he do to him? I didn't want to risk him hearing Kami explaining things in the next room, so I stepped outside and closed the door behind me. "What do you want?" I asked.

I saw the edge of Ren's mouth twitch. "Is that any way to greet the head of your family?"

I shrugged. "I guess not." I replied calmly. Then I smirked. "But, then again, barring someone from the main house isn't really any way to treat a family member. Don't you think they kind of balance out?"

Ren's face managed to remain expressionless.

I sighed and lowered my head. "If you're hear to talk to my parents, you should know that they have work until nine on Saturdays." Then I remembered that he wanted to marry Kami. "And Kami's busy, so she can't talk to you right now." I said, with venom in my voice.

Ren nodded. "I'm not here to speak with your sister. You already know that she turned down my offer." I didn't know how he knew that, but I figured that it was some kind of assumption based on the fact that Kami and I were always together. "And I guess I don't have to speak with your parents either."

I stared at him, mirroring his expression. "Then what do you want?"

He surprised me by smiling, even if it was a demented smile. He looked past me at the closed door. "Tell me, is the young man believing everything your sister is telling him?"

I gritted my teeth and took a firm stance in front of the door. "You know that Yuu failed?" I said loudly. I brought my hands up and prepared to fight him. I knew that, unless Tohru had trained his entire life in martial arts, there was no way he would stand a chance against Ren. I had to keep him out of the house.

"Failed?" Ren threw his head back and laughed wickedly. "You're mistaken there, Kari." He looked back at me and continued to smile. "Yuu didn't fail. I wanted to know if the boy could be trusted like Kami said he could. When you said the same thing yesterday, I was even more intrigued."

"Well," I said bitterly. "Tohru can be trusted, so you don't have to worry about it."

"I can see that."

Then he turned and started to walk away. I got the strange feeling that he was planning something.


	10. Chapter 9

Later that night, after Tohru had gone home, Ren showed up again. The four of us were sitting down for dinner when he arrived, and Mom instantly invited him in to join us.

"Thank you." He said to her. He stepped thought he door and she closed it behind him. "But I can't stay for very long. I just have something to discuss with you."

"Oh, sir." Mom hurried to stand beside him. "I've been trying to reason with Kami, but she'll have none of it." It was true, she had been talking with Kami since the moment she got home, trying to talk her into marrying Ren.

"I'm not here to discuss Kami." Ren responded. "I'd like to talk to you about Kari."

I stiffened as I listened from the doorway.

Dad walked past me, shooting my a warning look, and joined the conversation. "We've already punished her for breaking into the main house." He told Ren.

They had punished me, that is, if you counted taking away my cell phone and laptop a punishment. Apparently they did, which meant that they had probably taken their lead from some article on raising teenagers. I never used my cell phone, other than to keep in touch with them when they had to work late, and my laptop was just for school use. It was kind of funny, since it seemed that they were punishing themselves more than me.

Ren nodded. "I'm pleased to hear that." He looked between my parents. "Actually, I'll like to talk about the plans for her after she graduates from high school."

"She is well aware of the plan." Mom said, and I was a little glad to see a few tears in her eyes. "She is prepared to spend her life in the secluded room of the cat."

"Not if I have any say about it." Kami hissed from behind me. I turned and saw that she was twisting a dishtowel tightly in her hands. I took it from her before she could tear it in half. Then I turned back to watch the adults.

"About that..." Ren started. He cleared his throat and looked at Mom. "I have ordered for that room to be destroyed." He stated confidently. "No member of the Sakura family should ever be imprisoned."

I turned to look at Kami and we exchanged a smile.

I heard Mom sigh with relief. I turned back to see her clutching Dad's arm. "That's wonderful news." She breathed.

"So," Ren continued. "About her future. There is something I would like to ask of you."

Dad nodded, also relieved. "Yes, anything. We will have her do anything you want."

_Thanks, dad._ I thought bitterly. I knew that it was out of relief that I wouldn't have to be locked up, but it was still insulting that he would say that without knowing what Ren wanted, or asking me what I wanted. I clenched my fists and listened, already making plans to run away if need be. I was fine being locked up, but being someone's slave was completely different, and I would not stand for it.

"I would like to marry her." Ren said.

I actually fell over. My legs gave way beneath me from surprise and I fell forward onto the ground. I shook my head and looked up. From where I sat in the doorway, I could clearly see all three of their looks of surprise. I stood up and faced them. "What about Kami?" I demanded, looking at Ren. "I thought you wanted to marry her."

"Kari!" Mom exclaimed, horrified. "You can't talk to the head of the family like that."

Ren held up a hand. "It's okay." He took a step toward me. "I planned to marry your sister in order to make the person who was god part of the top of the family." He looked past me, and I knew that he was looking at Kami, who had pocked her head out when I fell. "But she has made it clear that that is not what she wants."

"And what makes you think I'd want that?" I challenged. "In case you haven't noticed, we get along like-"

"Like a cat and a mouse?" He offered.

I scowled. "More like a cat and a rat." I spat.

Ren laughed, and for once it was a genuine laugh, not his wicked laugh. When he laughed like that, he seemed like a different person. "I guess, all things considered, that makes more sense." He looked at me with a gentle smile that made me defensive. "I guess I probably should have asked you first, then. Would that have been better."

"It would have saved you the trip tonight." I muttered angrily.

"Huh." He said, the smile turning into a half smile. "I guess I've been trained to find the quickest way to get what I want. After all, you probably would have said no if I had just asked you earlier this afternoon."

"Yeah." I responded coldly. "So, if you're looking for a cursed girl to be your bride, you would be better off finding someone who would actually be honoured to be chosen."

"Kari!" Both Mom and Dad said at the same time in a warning tone.

I ignored them. "Besides," I said to Ren, copying his half smile. "I'm the cat, remember. I'm the outsider, never invited to the banquet, and never allowed in the main house."

He laughed. "It's not like that stopped you last night." He closed the distance between us and looked down at me. "Besides, cat or no cat, you're Kari." He took my hands in his. "And rat or no rat, I'm madly in love with you."

I stared up at him, for once without a single word to shoot back at him.

He didn't need any words, though. He leaned down and kissed me, having read my mind.


	11. Epilouge

"Kari! Over here!"

I looked into the crowd and caught sight of Kami and Tohru. They were both waving at me with both hands. My heart panged with worry when Kami started jumping up and down, her bulging stomach bouncing. Then I breathed a sigh of relief when Tohru noticed the same thing and stopped her.

Almost a year had passed since the three of us had graduated, Kami and I from our private school, and Tohru from the public school. Tohru and Kami had been dating almost since Tohru found out about our family secret. As part of celebrating graduation, he had proposed to her. Now, even though they weren't married yet, they were getting ready for the arrival of a little boy.

"Kari?" I turned and smiled when I saw Ren standing with a hand stretched toward me. I waved once toward Kami and Tohru, gathered the long skirt of my gown, and took Ren's hand. He pulled me to him and kissed me. "Are you ready?"

I smiled and nodded. "I think so."

"Then let's go."

Just an hour ago, we had stood together at the front of a church and exchanged vows. Now we were standing in front of the main house with the entire family gathered on either side of the open gate. They were all cheering as Ren and I started to walk toward the gate.

When we reached it, Ren stopped. I faltered briefly, glancing to where the bushes still grew in front of the hole in the wall. Then I kept going, alone. Slowly, I took my first legal steps into the main house.

I turned and grinned when the crowd cheered loudly. My eyes met Ren's and my grin became a smirk. "Sneaking in was so much more fun." I mouthed to him, making him laugh.


End file.
